BEHAVIORAL OBSERVATIONS OF PIGLETS UNDERGOING TAIL DOCKING, TEETH CLIPPING AND EAR NOTCHING

The behaviour of 279 newborn Large White X Landrace hybrid piglets in a Specific Pathogen Free Piggery (University of Queensland, Australia) was recorded during and after routine management practices of tail do cking, ear notching and teeth clipping. The behaviours were recorded a t the time of the procedure and then at 30 s intervals for 2 min after completion of the procedure. Piglets that received one or all of the procedures behaved differently (P<0.05) from piglets that were merely held for a similar time. Additionally, the behaviour of piglets differ ed significantly (P<0.05) depending on what procedure was performed. T he behaviours observed were often correlated with a particular procedu re: tail docking caused more tail jamming and wagging; head shaking oc curred most with ear notching; teeth clipping caused more teeth champi ng. Grunting during and in the first 60 s after the procedure was most frequent for piglets that had their tails docked. There was a high de gree of individual variation within each litter for piglets undergoing the same procedure. The frequency of behaviours was greatest immediat ely after the procedure. The statistical differences evident in the pe riod 0-30 s decreased over time and eventually disappeared after appro ximately 2 min. Restraint of the piglet appeared to be stressful in it self. However, restraint combined with a procedure resulted in an alte ration of the behaviour from the basal levels shown by piglets that we re only handled. This change in behaviour could indicate that routine management procedures (although transient) are stressful to the piglet and warrant investigation into ways to alleviate this distress.